Orange and Yellow class had lots of fun on their last beach walk as Reception children. The sun shone for them to build castles, fly kites and play with the bubbles.

Danny Aldridge Visit

Westmeads School was lucky to have a visit from professional skater Danny Aldridge. He was very inspirational and advised children that if they work hard and want to do something enough then they can succeed. He answered some tricky questions and the children were very concerned that he wasn't wearing elbow pads, although he did explain that he does wear these when he is practising new tricks at home. Danny then amazed us all with some amazing stunts on the playground!

Sports Day

The children really enjoyed sports day. They all took part in lots of different activities and were excited to see their parents competing too!

Flying to Brazil

On Friday 10th June Yellow and Orange class prepared to fly out to Brazil. To prepare for the trip, the children made packing lists and passports, which included their photos and details. They also found out some information about Brazil using information books. On the day of the flight, they brought their luggage, choosing three items from their lists.

First they had to line up ready to go through passport control.

Next all the passengers and luggage had to be checked by security, including a sniffer dog and real metal detectors. Then the passengers had to wait with their cabin bags and hand luggage in the waiting area. It was a long wait till everyone was ready! Once everyone was through security, the gates opened and all the passengers started boarding the aircraft. They had to look at their tickets to find their seat numbers. Once seated, everyone fastened their seat belts and stowed their luggage under the seats ready for take-off. Members of the crew demonstrated the safety talk in case of an emergency. Then the plane took off for Brazil! During the flight passengers had refreshments and watched an inflight movie as it was going to be a ten hour flight.

Samba Workshop

On Friday 17th June we took part in a Samba Dance Workshop. We were able to learn all of the moves necessary to create our very own dance which we performed for our parents on sports day.

Olympic Medal

We had an exciting start to our new topic when we were lucky enough to actually hold an Olympic medal. Craig MacLean's wife was able to bring his Paralympic gold medal from the London 2012 games to show us. She was able to tell us lots of information about the medal and we enjoyed holding it and feeling the braille around the edge. We looked at pictures of Craig Maclean winning his medal.

Term 5

"Under the sea"

Marble treat

For our marble treat this term Orange class decided they would like to cook. We practised our measuring skills by weighing the ingredients and followed the recipe to make shortbread. It tasted delicious.

PE

In PE this term we have been continuing to practise co ordination when rolling and jumping. We have learnt tuck jumps, star jumps, straddle jumps and pencil jumps this term as well as forward rolls!

Maths

In Maths this term we have been adding and subtracting in a variety of ways. The children have been practising the skills of counting on and back by jumping forwards and backwards on a number line.

Can we have some fish please?

After thinking about what we would like to find out about under the sea creatures, Orange class decided that it would be really good if we could have some fish as our class pets. So all of the children wrote a letter to Mrs Lambirth asking to have pet fish. We delivered the letters to Mrs Lambirth and are now waiting for the reply.

The Snail and the Whale

After reading the story 'The Snail and the Whale' Orange class decided to find out how big a whale actually is. They looked in a whale information book and found out that big, blue whales can be up to 30 metres long! We measured and drew a 30 metre line on the playground to see how long this actually is. It was so long that the whole of Orange class' line could not stretch from his head to his tail!

RNLI Visit

This term our topic is all about under the sea. We started our new topic with a visit from the RNLI. The children asked some great questions and enjoyed learning about the RNLI, they even got to put on a life jacket and the helmet.

RNLI Visit - 27th April

Visit to Faversham Gym

To end our theme 'On the Move' Orange and Yellow class caught the train to Faversham Station and then walked to the gym. We spent the morning using the gymnastics equipment and then had some free time in the soft play area. It was a great day!

Orange class really enjoyed book week! We started reading the story 'One pig went for a drive', then decided what we thought might happen next and created our own stories which were fantastic!

On the Thursday the author of the story 'One pig went for a drive' came to Westmeads and read us some more of his wonderful books. We had to join in with one of them, he made us pretend we were different animals. He then read some of our stories, he was very impressed and said that we had provided him with some great ideas.

To finish the week we dressed as a character from our favourite book, the costumes were amazing and we had a brilliant day!

St Patrick's DayWatch how families celebrate St Patrick's Day on 17th March 2016.

Happy Mothers' Day

Orange class really enjoyed making their Mother's day crafts and were very excited to share this experience with their mums. It was a very busy afternoon but everybody managed to make a special gift to take home for Mothers' Day. Thank you to everyone that came; we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

World Book Day

Orange class started the morning with an amazing book read by Mrs Lambirth in assembly, it was called Tadpole's promise and we really weren't expecting the ending!

Then we were visited by different adults from around the school to read us some fantastic stories.

To finish our day we had lots of parents in to read us more of our favourite books.

What a busy, but wonderful day!

Beach walks

Orange class have started going on beach walks. We have been on two so far and really enjoyed them. We had glorious sunshine for our first walk, but it was a little breezy and grey for our second. We still managed to find some amazing shells and stones on the beach and decided to take them back to the warmth of our classroom so we could sketch them.

On the go...

This term we are learning about different types of movement and different ways of travelling. The children started the term by asking questions about what they wanted to find out about different transport and movement. They recorded their questions in a sentence, let's see what we can find out by the end of term!

Curriculum Newsletter

Yellow and Orange class celebrated by eating pancakes topped with lemon and sugar and then having a pancake race!

We had fun flipping the pancakes in a relay race and then tried balancing pancakes on our heads. The seagulls will be having a feast tonight!

Chinese New Year

Orange class celebrated Chinese New Year by tasting lots of different Chinese food. They tried rice, noodles, spring rolls, a range of different sauces and also lychees (our favourite was the spring rolls).

We talked about how Chinese New Year is celebrated and decided to create our own dancing dragons. The children enjoyed dancing to the music with their creations.

Orange class have practised their story telling technique in a range of different ways. Children have used role-play, story telling Duplo, story maps and puppets to tell a story. Some children have drawn pictures of characters within their story, drawn story maps or written their own story to show to the class.

We have enjoyed listening to different stories and are still deciding which is our favourite!

Music

Orange class have been exploring how to make loud and quiet noises using different instruments. They have been able to use a range of percussion instruments and have particularly enjoyed trying to make the LOUDEST sound. They have also learnt a song called "Don't wake up Anna".

PE

In PE this term Orange class have been travelling to the 'Enchanted land of Westmeads'. Here they have had to travel in different ways to avoid sharks, jump on pirate ships, defeat the crocodiles and free fairies from the swamp.

They have also been practising their ball skills and have learnt how to throw, catch and also how to aim a ball at a target. Orange class are enjoying their PE sessions this term and we can't wait to find out what happens next when visiting the enchanted land of Westmeads.

Hansel and Gretel

We have been reading the traditional story of 'Hansel and Gretel'. The children especially liked the part of the story about the gingerbread house covered in sweets, biscuits and icing sugar! We have been talking about the different characters in the story and using words to describe them. The children enjoyed acting out the story and decided to turn our role-play area into our very own gingerbread house.

Maths

In Maths we have been learning to add numbers together to find the total. We used sets of objects to practise adding, then some of us recorded our answers in a number sentence using our Numicon number line to help us find the correct number.

Aladdin

We really enjoyed watching Aladdin in the hall with the rest of the school. We sang along and some of us even had a little dance at the end of the show. The actors were very funny and we decided our favourite character was the genie. After the show we each made a Christmas wish to write on our stars.

Thank you for our Christmas gifts

The Children were very excited to tell all of their friends about the Christmas holidays. They were able to talk about all of the fantastic things they did and all of the wonderful presents they received. We decided to paint a picture of our favourite present and write a sentence to say what it was to say thank you.

This morning we had two elves called Elva and Elvis arrive with a letter from the North Pole. They are visiting Yellow and Orange class till the end of term to find out what children learn about at this time of year and to check that everyone is being kind to each other.

Yellow and Orange class went out into the garden to see if they could see Father Christmas and his sleigh. Although they were too late to see him outside, some children heard his sleigh bells and think they may have even found some of his sleigh tracks on the blue area.

The children were very excited about them coming to visit!

Children in Need

On Friday 13th November we came to school with bear faces for Children in Need. Even the teachers dressed up with bear faces! We held a toy sale in school and raised lots of money!

Our Diwali Celebration

On Wednesday 11th November was the festival of Diwali. Yellow and Orange class decided to hold their own celebration. The children read the story about how Rama rescued Sita from the demon king Ravana, designed and built bridges like Rama and Hunuman had, tried a variety of foods and spices from India, decorated their hands with Mendi style patterns, coloured Rangoli patterns and made clay Diva lamps. We finished off the day watching a fireworks display as part of the Diwali celebration.

In Maths we have been learning to sequence numbers in the correct order. We used Numicon to help us recognise the different numbers and stuck the pieces in the correct order onto a template to make our Numicon number rockets. We also practised counting backwards from 10.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!!!

Bonfire Night

This term we are learning all about different celebrations. The first celebration we learnt about was bonfire night. We watched a fireworks display on our interactive whiteboard and discussed the different noises we heard and the colours we saw. Lots of us went to a firework display so we talked about the fireworks we saw there too. We then painted our own fireworks pictures using straws and our fingers, we added glitter to make our pictures sparkle. Then we thought of different words to describe the fireworks we saw or painted and added these words to our display.

Term 1

''All about Me!''

Paddy from the dog's trust visits Orange class

We learnt what we needed to do to help keep Paddy fit and healthy.

He needs food, water, toys, treats for when he is good, a collar and a lead, a nice cosy blanket to lie on and two walks per day, even when it is raining!

But the most important thing that Paddy needs is lots of love and strokes.

We all enjoyed stroking Paddy and learning about how to look after him.

The Little Red Hen

For the last two weeks we have been learning about the story of The Little Red Hen. We learnt the story with actions and then performed this in front of the rest of the school as part of our Harvest celebration assembly. Just ask and we can tell you the story too!

We then talked about why it is important to help each other and what consequences we may face if we don't.

Then it was time to make our own bread. Of course we all helped make the bread, so we all had a chance to taste it! Our favourite topping was jam.

Dinosaur Workshop

Orange class attended the dinosaur workshop. They were fascinated to find out that dinosaurs once lived in Whitstable. The dinosaur lady said that she knows this as dinosaur fossils have been found close to where we live. However you will be relieved to know that we are safe because the dinosaurs are now extinct!

The children then had a chance to be archaeologists and used a paintbrush very carefully to dust sand away to reveal dinosaur fossils. They then compared these fossils to pictures to discover what dinosaur the fossils came from.

Miss Rigden even got to hold a dinosaur pooh!

The Elephant Poem

For poetry week Orange class learnt a poem about elephants as they were reading the story of Elmer. They were all very proud to stand up in front of the rest of the school to perform their poem. They might want to perform this for you at home too!

The elephant is big and strong,

his ears are large, his trunk is long.

He walks around with heavy steps,

two tusks, one tail and four thick legs.

Self-portraits

We have been busy painting self-portraits of ourselves and practising our painting skills. We used mirrors to help us to look carefully at the details of our faces and thought carefully about which colours we used to paint our school uniform. The children worked really hard and produced some brilliant art work!

Yellow and Orange class Curriculum Newsletter

This week in Orange Class we have been learning to recognise 2D shapes. We named a circle, square, triangle and a hexagon. Once we had discovered what the shapes were called, we practised our scissor control by carefully cutting around them. We then used a small amount of glue to stick the shapes onto our paper in an arrangement of our choice. The children worked really hard and helped create an amazing shape display!

Animated Nursery Rhymes and SongsTake a look at this brilliant website to remind you of all the wonderful Nursery Rhymes and songs that you can sing together at home.

Incy Wincy Spider

Last week we had lots and lots of rain so the children decided to sing Nursery rhymes about the wet weather. After asking the rain to go away, we decided our favourite weather song was Incy Wincy spider. We made some spiders and also a drain pipe for Incy Wincy to climb up. But beware of the dark clouds above!

Welcome to Orange class. We have been busy settling in the new classes and practising the new school rules that we have learnt so far.

Academic Year 2014-2015

Term 6

Monday 2nd June - Friday 24th July

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!"

A visit from Chris Cook

Olympic Swimmer Chris Cook visited the school on Monday 29th June and lead sports activities with all classes. Orange Class had a brilliant time learning how to do spotty dogs and mountain climbers.

Science Day

We were all exhausted after Sport's Day but had a busy Wednesday too. Science Day brought shadow exploration in the playground; changing materials with ice-cream and butter making as well as confusing our senses with different coloured foods! Phew! I may be the last term of the year but we are packing everything in!!

Westmeads Games

We all had such a great time at our sport's games, everyone did SO well and Miss Davenport was very impressed with our skills!

In Literacy we are learning about stories and have begun the term with the story 'Sharing a shell'.

All stories have certain features that we have been learning about. Characters are whois in the story, the settingis where the story is and all stories have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is where we find out about who the characters are and where they are; the middle is where all the action happens and the end brings the story together.

We created a story map as a class and the children have been using it to retell the story to their friends in the book corner. We learned that speech bubbles are used to tell us what different characters are saying and made our own for the story. The children have also planned new adventures for Crab, Blob and Brush to go on and are beginning to write their own stories.

What a busy start to the term! We were very impressed with all the holiday challenges that the children have completed over the summer. They are on display outside our classroom, take a minute to look at the children's wonderful work. Miss Davenport has learned some new facts!

Did you know?

Term 5

We have been super busy learning about poetry. We've been rhyme spotting and thinking of adjectives to describe the jungle and animals we might find there. We have used these skills to create our own poems. Here are a few we wrote this week:

The anteater is eating some ants,

he is wearing some superman pants.

He is drinking some juice

and his clothes are so loose,

let’s hope he doesn’t lose his pants!

The colourful snake is hunting

to look for some delicious food.

He is looking forward to munching,

it will put him in a very good mood.

The panda is cuddly and soft,

he lives up in the loft!

He’s black and white

and won’t give you a fright.

Sitting about all day,

Munching bamboo away.

The crocodile swims in the water,

trying to get his daughter.

His mouth goes snap!

Like a trap!

And he never catches his daughter.

The gorilla swings in the tree,

he doesn’t like to swim in the sea.

He likes to play, in the day,

and he likes to shout “hooray!”

He punches his chest

and then goes to rest.

Walking Through the Jungle

We read 'Walking through the Jungle' written byJulie Lancome and added an Orange Class twist by changing the rhymes!

Space Poems

After reading some space poems Orange Class spontaneously created their own...

Before the sun, I have fun.

There are lots of stars surrounding Mars.

Before I go in the rocket,

I will unplug the socket.

The moon reflects the sun at night,

while all the stars are shining bright.

Marble Treat

We had a fun filled afternoon at Whitstable Castle Play Park as our marble treat that we achieved towards the end of last term.

St George's Day

We enjoyed dressing up in red and white to celebrate St George's Day.

Orange Class was welcomed back by Gerry the Giraffe. We've already been extremely busy, learning about the animals that live in the jungle. We've been on an animal hunt around our jungle classroom, thought of some fantastic adjectives to describe them and written our very own jungle poems.

Term 4

Monday 23rd February-Wednesday 1st April

"Splish Splash I was taking a bath..."

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..."

Our final beach visit this term was spent creating art work using natural materials in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. As Easter is fast approaching we decided we would make some Easter eggs. Take a look at our wonderful creations:

Well done Orange Class!

All the children did a FANTASTIC job in their first ever class assembly today (Thursday 26th March) Miss Davenport is extremely proud!! If you were unable to make it we filmed the assembly so if you would like a copy just let Miss Davenport know

Dental Nurse

We had a visit from a dental nurse on Monday 23rd Marchwho told us how to take care of our teeth.

Only use a pea sized amount of toothpaste

Brush twice a day for 2 whole minutes

Do not eat or drink too many sugary foods

Only eat sugary foods with a meal (not as a snack)

Do not rinse out your mouth with water OR mouthwash after you have brushed your teeth

Partial Solar Eclipse and Night Owls

Night Owls - The Movie

Several owls flew over the children's heads when Night Owls came to visit Westmeads. It was a very exciting morning!

We had such an AMAZING day on Friday 20th March. The day started with us watching a live feed of the eclipse courtesy of the BBC. We saw fantastic images from across the country and it felt a little eerie in our classroom with the lights off.

We were then lucky enough to have an assembly from 'Night Owls'.

We met lots of different types of owls including a Barn owl called Whisper who we all had our photo taken with. Look out for the proofs in your child's bookbag!

The owls flew very close to our heads and we had to be extremely still so we didn't frighten them. We also learned a few facts:

An owl can turn its head almost all the way round because it cannot move its eyes.

Owls havesoft feathers to help them fly silently.

Living Eggs - chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken...

We were lucky enough to hold some of the chicks as they grew bigger and stronger. There were two sick chicks that Miss Hyett and Mrs Sansom were nurturing while they were at school. Miss Davenport was under instruction to feed them sugar water through a pipette. It looked quite tricky!

Funday Friday!

Today (Friday 6th March) we have been learning about Holi - the festival of colours. We scrunched up white paper and threw it across the hall saying 'Goodbye Winter' and we welcomed in spring with lots of colourful activities! We drew around our hand and finger-painted bright patterns on it. We made 'Happy Holi' cards and we even got to squirt paint using syringes! We had lots of fun but didn't get as messy as Miss Davenport and Ms Elms!

Another busy week!

As you are aware, Red Class has been home to some hatching eggs. We have been taking daily visits to observe the progress of the chicks and have talked about the changes we have seen as the chicks develop. It has been very interesting!

We have been learning about instructions - they can be used to tell people where to go and what to do at home and at school; we can follow instructions to make or create something; we can also follow instructions in the form of recipes. After reading 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch' we wrote instructions about how to make a sandwich. The next day we followed these instructions to make our own sandwiches and we had a lovely picnic in the playground! A big 'Thank you!' to all the grown ups who came in to read us stories on World Book Day!

We have also learned how to use Beebot and Construct-a-bot. They have very good memories and can follow lots of instructions that we give them. We have to programthe instructions into Beebot and press GO and we will do exactly as we have told him. But we found out that we must remember to press CLEAR so that Beebot forget all the other instructions he's previously been given.

What a busy first week back!!

We began the week learning about Chinese New Year and made our own lantern and finger painted blossom trees. We also had a visit from GIST who brought along alorry cab and spoke to use about Road Safety. We learned that when we cross the road we must STOP at the edge of the kerb, LOOK both ways AND LISTEN for sirens! We were lucky enough to climb into the cab and sit in the drivers seat. It was difficult to climb all the way up there!

On Tuesday we visited theLifeboat Station and learned all about what the crew do. Did you know they have 5 minutes to get to the Lifeboat Station if they are paged AND they only have 5 minutes to get into their kit ready for the rescue. Miss Davenport has given us the challenge to get ready for PE in 5 minutes...I wonder if we can do it...

We also learned that if we see someone in trouble in the sea we are supposed to call 999 and say "Coastguard please"

On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have a visit from Quantam Theatre who performed a show called 'The Big Drip'. We learned lots about different materials. Solids, Liquids and Gases. Did you know that water is a liquid but can be frozen into ice which is a solid and boiled to steam which is a gas. Amazing!

Our theme this term is 'Splish Splash' and we will begin with an exciting trip to the Lifeboat Station on Tuesday 24th February. But before all that, we have a visit from a lorry on Monday; I wonder if we will get to sound the horn...